With a velvety custard and a crispy sugar topping, crème brûlée is sure to be a showstopper, no matter the occasion. However, with so many steps and rules, it can seem like an impossible task for the average homecook. Have no fear: We went through all the trial and error so you don’t have to. So, come with us while we give you the tips and tricks to make your first crème brûlée a success.

Tempering the Eggs

Eggs are one of those ingredients that are very sensitive to temperature change. A few degrees too warm and suddenly your custard can turn into scrambled eggs. One way to prevent this is to temper your eggs. Tempering is a process where you slowly add hot liquid to eggs to combine them. This process is used in all sorts of recipes like carbonara, custard, and avgolemono soup. The gentle heating you get from tempering egg yolks will result in a silky-smooth texture and help the egg yolks to thicken your custard while preventing your eggs from curdling.

Hot Water Bath

While it might seem like an unnecessary step, a hot water bath is an important part of making crème brûlée. The hot water bath will help to create a gradual increase in temperature. This will ensure even cooking and prevent overcooking from a sudden spike on temperature. This will help to givethe custard a silky texture and prevent it from splitting or cracking.

Oven Temperature

The temperature at which you bake your custard has a huge impact on how your custard will turn out. The rule of thumb with crème brûlée is to cook it low and slow. For us, this ended up being 40 minutes at 300°F. However, this may differ from oven to oven. Our first experience making crème brûlée was in Kinnon’s first apartment, which had a tiny oven from 1962 with no window and the heating ability of a small nuclear reactor. While a temperamental oven can definitely make things more difficult, as long as you can maintain a temperature of 250°F-325°F, you should be fine. You will know your custard is done cooking when the edges are set and the middle is still jiggly. If you want to be extra sure, you can use a thermometer to make sure it is cooked through. The temperature of your custard should read around 170°F-180°F.

Allow it to Set

Crème brûlée is a dessert that relies heavily on temperature, and that takes time. Once your custard is cooked, it is important to allow it to chill for several hours. The drop in temperature causes the thickening proteins in eggs to coagulate and bind. This causes the custard to firm up and creates a gel-like texture.

Playing with Fire

For this recipe, we would highly recommend purchasing a kitchen torch to melt the sugar topping, simply because it makes it very easy and gives you more control over how the sugar melts. However, there are a few alternate methods to achieve this without a torch.

The first method is your oven broiler. However, you run the risk of heating your custard too much and overcooking your custard. One way to prevent this is to place your ramekins in an ice bath. This should maintain a cool temperature for your custard and prevent it from cooking again.

The second method is to caramelize sugar in a pan, then pour it over the custard and allow it to cool. While this is technically not a brûlée, it is a good option if you don’t have access to a torch and should still give you a satisfying topping to crack into.

How to Make It

Cold Infuse the Cream

This step is optional. However, we think it is a simple way to help to intensify the flavour of the rose and cardamom in the custard. Simply put the cream, rose petals, and cardamom in a container and allow it to sit in the fridge to infuse. We would recommend allowing it to infuse for at least 4 hours, but you can leave it in the fridge as early as the night before you mix your custard.

Heat the Cream

Add the cream, rose petals, cardamom, and vanilla to a small saucepan. Heat the cream over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be sure to hold your cream at a temperature where it is steaming, but not simmering. Strain out the solids and set aside. We used a glass measuring cup for this, which made transferring the cream to the ramekins much easier.

Make the Egg Mixture

In a small glass bowl, mix together your egg yolks and sugar until they are well-combined. Be sure not to whip your egg mixture. This will incorporate too much air into your eggs and result in a custard with a cake-like texture, which (while still delicious) is not what we want for a crème brûlée. We found this out the hard way while testing this recipe.

Mix the Custard

Add a small amount of the hot cream to your egg mixture while stirring constantly. Continue slowly adding the hot cream bit by bit until it is all mixed into your egg mixture. This gradual addition of the cream slowly heats up the eggs, preventing them from scrambling from a sudden increase in temperature. This is called tempering.

Prepare the Ramekins

In the bottom of a deep baking dish, place a paper towel before placing your ramekins. This should prevent the ramekins from sliding around in the dish when you transfer it to and from the oven.

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Strain your custard into the ramekins and fill the baking dish with hot water until it comes to about halfway up the side of the ramekins. The hot water bath will help ensure even cooking and temperature while baking and prevent the custards from cracking.

Bake and Set

Bake the custards in the water bath at 300°F until the middle jiggles and the edges are set. For us this took 40 minutes. However, baking time may vary depending on the depth of your ramekins. Remove the dish from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool before transferring them to the fridge to set. Allow it to chill in the fridge until they are completely set. This will take about 4 hours, but you can put them in the fridge as early as the day before you intend to serve them, making crème brûlée the perfect dessert for a dinner party.

Torch and Serve

Wait until just before you are ready to eat the crème brûlée before doing this step. If you do this step too soon, the sugar will dissolve and lose its glass-like hardness. Remove the ramekins from the fridge and blot off any condensation with a paper towel.

Evenly spread granulated sugar on the top of the ramekins, making sure there aren’t any clumps or bare spots.

Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. It should be melted and slightly burned, and should be shiny like glass once cooled.

Serve immediately and enjoy!